On substantiating abortion numbers

“I have aborted over a million babies, and I consider it my passion.”

 
So quoted Gianna Jessen, abortion survivor, of the abortionist who delivered her--presumably Dr. Edward Allred, formerly of Avalon Memorial Hospital.

If true, that's an extraordinary and horrific achievement.  But is it true?

She didn't cite her claim, so I have searched the Internet for a few hours.  No luck.  I did find a plaintive query on Reddit, though, under the heading "Supposed Eddie Allred quote"

"At about 3:20, this woman [Gianna Jessen] asserts that Eddie Allred stated at some unknown point in time, "I have aborted over a million babies and I consider it my passion". I have been trying, to no avail, to find a source for this quote. 

I asked her via Twitter if she could give me a source and she basically told me to look it up for myself. The only hits for this quote are from her speech.  Can anyone confirm or deny this, provide the original edited source, anything? I know it's a shot in the dark."

No takers.  That was five years ago.  

So I'm wondering: did he ever brag about his numbers?  Did he say it of himself or merely his clinics?

Prolifeblogs (http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2011/03/) in 2011 attributed half a million kills to Dr. Allred: 

"Family Planning Associates was founded by the notorious abortionist Edward Allred, who once claimed to have personally aborted at least 500,000 babies..."  

Unfortunately, no source cited.

In 2013, Advindicate writer David Read attributed a mere 250,000 kills to Dr. Allred: 

"In 1980, Allred claimed to have personally aborted a quarter of a million fetuses in the preceding 12 years. It may seem difficult to believe that one man could perform so many abortions, but Allred tried to spend no more than five minutes with each pregnant woman. “We've been pioneers in so many ways,” he once told a reporter. “We streamlined, we made efficiencies, we employed the suction technique better than anyone, and we eliminated needless patient-physician contact. We usually see the patient for the first time on the operating table and then not again.” Spending only five minutes per patient would have allowed Allred to perform as many as 100 abortions in a 10-12 hour working day, and 200 working days per year (50 four-day work weeks) would, over 12 years, add up to 240,000 aborted fetuses. So Allred's estimate of the number of abortions he performed during that time is credible."  http://advindicate.com/articles/2560

Again: no source cited, but at least a 1998 article in the OC Weekly corroborates--without citing the source itself:

"In 1980, he claimed to have personally aborted 250,000 fetuses during the previous 12 years. The number of abortions Allred has conducted in the past 18 years is not known. "I don't discuss numbers anymore," the doctor recently told the Weekly. 'But obviously we've done plenty more surgeries.' If it's any indication, Allred's current ad in the Pacific Bell Yellow Pages proclaims his Family Planning Associates clinics are "California's leading provider" of abortions."  http://www.ocweekly.com/1998-06-25/news/the-abortionist-who-funds-pro-life-republicans/full/

The only sourced number of abortions I can find attributed to Dr. Allred is that notorious 1980 San Diego Union article, in which Allred "estimates his clinics will perform upwards of 60,000 abortions this year".  The article, titled "Doctor's abortion business is lucrative," characterizes Dr. Allred as a hard-charging businessman: "I love to work very hard," he says.  "I'd work from 6 in the morning until midnight performing abortions."

It's possible that Gianna Jessen found a credible source for her quote--"One million babies"--but given the above, I would be surprised if such information were available, as Dr. Allred apparently experienced some fallout from that article and clammed up.  On October 14, 1980--two days after the unflattering article appeared--the parents of one of Dr. Allred's deceased patients filed a $14 million lawsuit alleging he had "provided substandard treatment as a result of [the patient's] race and ancestry..." http://www.thefreelibrary.com/William+L.+Webster+vs.+Reproductive+Health+Services.-a095612647

So Gianna Jessen's quote of Dr. Allred--whom she did not name, incidentally: is it credible?  That depends.  Assuming the OC Weekly is correct that he claimed to have aborted 250,000 fetuses in 12 years, it's likely that his clinics easily accounted for a million kills in 30 years.  At his previous personal rate of abortions, he could have done 625,000 by 1998.  But did he say that anywhere?  Perhaps.  It's possibly on the Internet still, or it's possible that it was on the Internet but has been removed.  Either way, it's devilishly hard to find without a citation.

Why do I bring this up?  To minimize his "accomplishments"?  No.  I cannot fathom the destruction that man has wreaked.  As Teresa Beem* illustrates for the 250,000 figure: imagine AT&T Stadium filled with infants.  Now imagine it filled three times.  That's 250,000 human beings murdered, quite lucratively, by one man. 

I question her "one million babies" statement because I don't want the cause to lose credibility.  There's no need to enlarge on the heinous story, even if the enlargements are plausible.  Opponents seize every opportunity to discredit the effort.  The known horror is sufficient to persuade a sufficiently sane, sensitive human being without a need to extrapolate.  

So Gianna, if you're listening: I'm glad you're alive.  You have an incredible testimony. And I mean "incredible" in the sense of "amazing"--although, it's useful to remember that some others will view it as literally incredible.  I would love to know where you got that "one million babies" line from--and if you simply extrapolated it, that's fine, but please admit it and correct it in the future.

God bless you and your powerful work.  I hope you will have a family of your own to love--to bring your story full-circle, just as you've done for others.

*http://arthurandteresabeem.blogspot.com/2015/04/dear-seventh-day-adventists-imagine-for.html